Judith Starkston has spent too much time exploring the remains of the ancient worlds of the Greeks and Hittites. Their myths and clashes inspire her fiction and open gates to magical realms. She has degrees in Classics from the University of California, Santa Cruz and Cornell. She loves myths and telling stories, and her novels imbue fantasy with the richness of ancient worlds. The first book in her Trojan Threads Series, Hand of Fire was a semi-finalist for the M.M. Bennett’s Award for Historical Fiction. Priestess of Ishana, the first in her historical fantasy Tesha series, won the San Diego State University Conference Choice Award. Judith is represented by Richard Curtis.
Writing historical fiction–even with some fantastical elements thrown in–requires careful use of accurate historical detail. I loved this discussion of Egyptian chariots and the surprisingly abundant evidence for women using chariots. So handy for my fiction!
I spent a happy day at the exhibit, Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs. I have some thoughts to share which I hope you’ll enjoy. Read on for Ramses, Egyptian gold, and taking a nuanced view of history and museum exhibits.
We think of fingerprints as a tool of modern crime detection, but police experts are interpreting ancient fingerprints for archaeologists. I was surprised both by the range of projects and the information they could surmise.
This historical fantasy is both a magic-filled thriller with a delightfully creepy villain and a romance with hesitant Victorian “lovers.” There’s a house that’s truly out to get its owner, among other dangers that manage to be both funny and frightening. Read on for my review.
1200 BCE is the general date historians attribute to the fall of the Bronze Age. Empires in flames, widespread destruction of countless cities. Or maybe not. Getting history right is a subtle and complicated process. How much does physical destruction underlie the collapse of empires?
If you’ve ever visited the site of Troy in modern Turkey, you know what a befuddling place it is. So many jumbled layers, so many strands of history–or is it myth? The Archaeological Institute has come to the rescue with a clear and enjoyable interactive map. Click through to read about it and have some fun.
What makes another Egyptian tomb discovery interesting? The importance of the person buried inside certainly enters into it, so here’s the recently begun excavation of a dignitary with access to royal “top secrets.”
Happy holidays to you with cookies, of course. And in case you need something to escape the festivities, here’s a murder mystery at an archaeological dig in Mesopotamia.
You might remember my post about the Trojan War mosaic found in a Roman villa in England not so long ago. If you are a fan of mosaics, Roman Britain, the Iliad, or history and archaeology in general, you’ll love this update and its excellent video display of each of the mosaic’s panels.
With The Hidden Palace, follow-up to her historical fantasy The Golem and the Jinni, Wecker returned with a layered novel of many complex characters, including even richer developments of the golem and jinni, completely intriguing magical beings. Here’s my review of this enticing book.
